That pretty much sums it up. We just got back last night after a three day weekend in Naples. It was quite the experience. We took off bright and early Friday morning on a high speed (over 300km/hr) train bound for Naples. The train ride was fairly uneventful, as was our arrival in Naples and trip to the hotel, which was little more than a block from the train station. Little did we know that the safest, most 
predictable part of our trip was now behind us. We took off immediately to see a 13th Century castle on the waterfront and the Royal Palace from the 1600s. Naples was under the dominion of Spain at the time, and the palace was built for the King of Spain, who was going to visit the city. The palace was beautiful! Everything was marble and gold leaf. There were huge tapestries depicting mythological scenes, one-of-a-kind hand-made tables with marble inlays, and tall windows looking out to sea. All of that for one guy, and the guy never showed up. Classy.
Saturday was supposed to be devoted to the ancient Roman sites along the Bay of Naples that were destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, but it rained. We went as far as the Villa of Oplontis, but then we decided to head back to the city because we were all getting soaked. To make it up to us, our tour guide took us to see the underground aqueducts of Naples (featured during an episode of the History Channel’s “Cities of the Underworld”). The aqueducts were build (dug) by the Greek founders of the city
(Neapolis=New City=Napoli) and later used during WWII as bomb shelters, since Naples was the most bombed city in Italy. At one point, our tour guide took us to the mouth of this long tunnel that had no lights. It was an ancient maintenance tunnel that led to a huge cistern. To give us an idea of how the ancients used the place, we were put into groups of two or three and given candles and told to start walking. The tunnel was only about two feet wide and varied in height from five feet to more than twenty.
Saturday night, a huge group of us went out to dinner. We took four taxis out to the water front, where we found a cute little seafood restaurant (I had a vegetarian penne dish, much to the amusement of my neighbor, who had been hoping to share a lobster dish with me – “You do know this is a seafood joint, right?”) in the shadow of yet another of Napoli’s castles. Dinner was delicious, but a couple of people split a huge crab and were disappointed by how much work it took to get so little meat – this crab had a huge body, but it had short little legs, several of which mysteriously went missing before making their way out to our table. We took more taxis back to the hotel. No one in Napoli obeys traffic laws, by the way. The two taxi rides were terrifying. On our return trip, our driver veered around a corner just as some guy going the opposite direction did the same thing. I swear we nearly collided, but then the other guy sped away, and we did too, swerving in and out of several lanes of traffic. We were all exclaiming our panic, but the taxi driver just shrugged and said, “Eh… Napoli,” and kept on driving.
We went back to Pompeii on Sunday morning, and we got to spend a little time at the forum and markets, and then we were turned loose for about half an hour to explore before regrouping to visit the Villa of the Mysteries. I headed off immediately to find the insula I have spent the past year and a half working on reconstructing for the Digital Pompeii Project. It was almost completely closed off to the public. Out of the entire block, I got to see two of the tiniest houses and a little shop. It was rather disappointing, but at least I can say I’ve been there.
All in all, I can’t say that I particularly liked Naples. I was actually homesick for Rome. Naples was really dirty, with trash piled everywhere, and there were no police officers to be seen all weekend. Here, there are police, security guards, and military personnel everywhere. It’s an off day if I don’t see at least six on my way to school in the morning. Police presence would have come in handy since the men were really pushy and forward, stopping some of the girls on the street and even pulling over to honk and shout about beautiful girls after we crossed the street. I’m glad I went to see Naples, but I’m even more glad to be back safely in Rome.
predictable part of our trip was now behind us. We took off immediately to see a 13th Century castle on the waterfront and the Royal Palace from the 1600s. Naples was under the dominion of Spain at the time, and the palace was built for the King of Spain, who was going to visit the city. The palace was beautiful! Everything was marble and gold leaf. There were huge tapestries depicting mythological scenes, one-of-a-kind hand-made tables with marble inlays, and tall windows looking out to sea. All of that for one guy, and the guy never showed up. Classy.Saturday was supposed to be devoted to the ancient Roman sites along the Bay of Naples that were destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, but it rained. We went as far as the Villa of Oplontis, but then we decided to head back to the city because we were all getting soaked. To make it up to us, our tour guide took us to see the underground aqueducts of Naples (featured during an episode of the History Channel’s “Cities of the Underworld”). The aqueducts were build (dug) by the Greek founders of the city
(Neapolis=New City=Napoli) and later used during WWII as bomb shelters, since Naples was the most bombed city in Italy. At one point, our tour guide took us to the mouth of this long tunnel that had no lights. It was an ancient maintenance tunnel that led to a huge cistern. To give us an idea of how the ancients used the place, we were put into groups of two or three and given candles and told to start walking. The tunnel was only about two feet wide and varied in height from five feet to more than twenty.Saturday night, a huge group of us went out to dinner. We took four taxis out to the water front, where we found a cute little seafood restaurant (I had a vegetarian penne dish, much to the amusement of my neighbor, who had been hoping to share a lobster dish with me – “You do know this is a seafood joint, right?”) in the shadow of yet another of Napoli’s castles. Dinner was delicious, but a couple of people split a huge crab and were disappointed by how much work it took to get so little meat – this crab had a huge body, but it had short little legs, several of which mysteriously went missing before making their way out to our table. We took more taxis back to the hotel. No one in Napoli obeys traffic laws, by the way. The two taxi rides were terrifying. On our return trip, our driver veered around a corner just as some guy going the opposite direction did the same thing. I swear we nearly collided, but then the other guy sped away, and we did too, swerving in and out of several lanes of traffic. We were all exclaiming our panic, but the taxi driver just shrugged and said, “Eh… Napoli,” and kept on driving.
We went back to Pompeii on Sunday morning, and we got to spend a little time at the forum and markets, and then we were turned loose for about half an hour to explore before regrouping to visit the Villa of the Mysteries. I headed off immediately to find the insula I have spent the past year and a half working on reconstructing for the Digital Pompeii Project. It was almost completely closed off to the public. Out of the entire block, I got to see two of the tiniest houses and a little shop. It was rather disappointing, but at least I can say I’ve been there.All in all, I can’t say that I particularly liked Naples. I was actually homesick for Rome. Naples was really dirty, with trash piled everywhere, and there were no police officers to be seen all weekend. Here, there are police, security guards, and military personnel everywhere. It’s an off day if I don’t see at least six on my way to school in the morning. Police presence would have come in handy since the men were really pushy and forward, stopping some of the girls on the street and even pulling over to honk and shout about beautiful girls after we crossed the street. I’m glad I went to see Naples, but I’m even more glad to be back safely in Rome.
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